Different methods for textural evaluation of freeze-dried candies during storage.

The textural changes along storage of two freeze-dried candies developed from blackcurrant fruit, unflavored yogurt and different alternative sweeteners: one of them sweetened with honey/isomalt (HI) and another one sweetened with isomalt/stevia (IS), were analyzed through three different methods (instrumental, sensory and image analysis). Fresh candies were in the supercooled state, and presented different structural and textural characteristics (HI: compact and homogeneous, and IS: porous and crunchy), with Fmax values of 139 ±14 N and 174 ± 16 N for HI and IS, respectively. After storage, the instrumental analysis showed aprox. 60% average drop in F max and W values, in agreement with the decrease observed by sensory analysis in hardness, fracturability and crispness attributes. Image analysis showed an increase in the parameters related to the homogeneity and the uniformity/smoothness for HI. A Pearson's Correlation Coefficients analysis showed that there was a good correlation between the three used techniques, suggesting that the joint use of these methods could be performed for a better understanding of complex food texture. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.